#3 Shaun Kuschel from “overyonderlust.com”

Today, we’re so excited to welcome Shaun from overyonderlust.com, Shaun and Erica are the couple behind the awesome rich in media travel blog, featuring beautiful photos, and excellent travel content, they both come from the tech industry, and dedicate most of their time to travel around the Americas, Europe and Japan, here’s what Shaun has to say:

Let’s talk experiences – what has been the mostawesome travel experience you’ve had on the road? Theworst?

The memory that sticks out most in my mind starts out as one of the worst, but becomes one of the best. This experience happened in Japan, on one of our first times out of the country. We were loving every minute of exploring this country, however, when we arrived in Hiroshima we felt a wave of guilt slap us across the face. Even though our parents weren’t yet alive when the atomic bomb was dropped, knowing how much damage was caused by our country was hard to process. We were spending an afternoon walking around Peace Park, learning details of that catastrophic event that they don’t teach us in school, when a woman who was old enough to have lived through WW2 slowly rode by on a bicycle. She stopped when she saw us and asked if we were Australian. We froze, as the words got stuck in our throats. After a moment we managed to reply “No, we’re from the US”. Once she heard our response, more wrinkles began to appear on her face- forming from the huge smile that pushed her cheeks into her eyes. “Welcome to Hiroshima” she said cheerily before getting back on her bike and riding off.

Who would be your ideal travelling companion?

Aside from each other, someone who is open-minded and willing to try anything/go anywhere. Oh, and someone with an instant-teleportation device.

What would be your Dream trip?

Our current dream trip is going to Antarctica. Getting to see penguins, SCUBA diving with seals, exploring the last untamed continent, yeah, that is the top of our list.

What do you never travel without?

For us, it’s cameras and computers to keep up with the blog. Although, traveling without technology is one of the most freeing ways to see the world. Using word of mouth instead of websites and staying with locals instead of at hostels/hotels is incredible.

What would you do if you loose your passport, moneyand phone in a foreign country?

After freaking out? I guess it depends on where we are. The more we travel and stay connected with the travel community, the more people we know all over the world. The chances of us having a friend (or friend of a friend) to help us out is pretty high. Otherwise we’d cry at the Embassy until we could get everything squared.

Where are you going next?

We’ve had our fill of cold weather, so we’re heading to the Caribbean to spend some time in Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico- one of our favorite parts of the world.

What have you learnt from your travels?

I think the easier question is what haven’t we learned from our travels. We learn so much about ourselves, history, people, culture, food, etc., that we can’t imagine not traveling.

What advice or counsel would you give first-timewanderers hitting the road?

Throw your itinerary out the window and just go. Be flexible and open and don’t get discouraged if things don’t work out. Every day is an adventure full of possibilities, if you’re willing to have them.

———–

We would like to thank Shaun for his time and participation to Travelers Nation, we highly recommend people interested in travel to visit OverYonderlust.com and follow Shaun and Erica on their exciting 365 Days Project, and on Twitter @OverYonderlust